============================ Hard Corps: Uprising FAQ v1.01 by Zap B. Zap.Futurama@hotmail.com 2011/02/21 ============================ -------------------------------------- Table of Contents -------------------------------------- 1. Intro 1.1 Description 1.2 Intent 1.3 Terms of Use 2. Tips 3. Stages Secrets and Bonuses 3.1 Stage 1 - Desert 3.2 Stage 2 - Jungle 3.3 Stage 3 - Ruins 3.4 Stage 4 - Capital Highway 3.5 Stage 5 - Capital Laboratory 3.6 Stage 6 - Capital Railway 3.7 Stage 7 - Capital Tower Building 3.8 Stage 8 - Battleship 4. Weapons Tips 4.1 Starting Gun 4.2 (Super) Machine Gun 4.3 Spread 4.4 (Heated) Plasma 4.5 Crash 4.6 Ripple 4.7 Laser 5. Shop Purchases Tips 5.1 Purchase Order suggestions 5.2 Bahamut Specific Power-ups 5.3 Krystal Specific Power-ups 5.4 Harley Daniels Specific Power-ups 5.5 Sayuri Specific Power-ups -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Intro -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- 1.1 Description -------------------------------------- Despite the name, this game *is* a Contra game from Konami. This is a great co-op game which pays homage to the Contra series, especially Contra 3: Alien Wars. This game is difficult (about as much as Contra 3), but never ridiculously impossible/cheap like Neo Contra, Contra: Shattered Soldier, and Contra 4 (NDS game). You don't need to play "perfectly" (never get hit, burn through stages super fast while killing 100% of everything) to beat this game nor to get good end-stage bonus points or S rank. There are lots of enemies on screen but bullets fly slow enough for you to dodge them (you rarely get stuck in "Bullet Hell"). You are meant to revisit stages many times to master the stage/enemies (to beat the stage easier and faster for bigger end-stage bonuses) and to explore (hidden secrets, gold medals, and 1-ups abound each stage). The new shopping system in Rising Mode works really well and is well balanced (i.e., none of the power-ups are useless). Definitely gives you a reason to score big points to power-up your character. -------------------------------------- 1.2 Intent -------------------------------------- This FAQ is meant as a Strategy Guide and *not* a Walkthrough for Rising Mode. I don't intend of going in fine detail over stage layouts and exact boss strategies. This FAQ is meant only to provide tips and strategies on how to maximize your fun while playing this game. -------------------------------------- 1.3 Terms of Use -------------------------------------- This FAQ is public. Feel free to post it anywhere you want or use the information inside it whereever you want. Please don't modify this FAQ in any way. Please note that I don't often check my emails either, but feel free to contribute any additional info. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Tips -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few tips to make the game more fun to play and to save you from pulling your hair out because of the difficulty or "Grinding" to power-up your character: -Play with a friend (2-player coop). The extra firepower and support is always welcome, however the later stages have jumping puzzles which require both players to move together as a team (like Contra 1's Waterfall stage). -Both players should play the same character (strongly suggest Bahamut for beginners) because the Rising Points (i.e., money) for both players go to the main Xbox Profile (Player 1). This way, if both players are the same character, you'll have twice as many Rising Points to shop with. -Finish stages better/faster to score *huge* bonus points (don't just rely on points by killing bad guys): -Completion bonuses (which you get from killing *every* enemy in a stage) go from 400,000 (Stage 1) to 1,200,000pts (last stage). -Time Bonuses go from 3,000,000 down to 30,000 (3M, 1M, 400K, 300K, 50K, 30K), so beat stages as fast as you can because this value drops quickly. -Special Bonuses are 250,000, which I believe you get for beating a stage without continuing. -To avoid frustration, don't just plow through the game in one sitting: the stages get much harder the further you get. If you find the stages getting too difficult, restart from Stage 1 to explore and level-up. Power-ups make a huge difference. I don't recommend doing the last stage until you buy almost all the power-ups. -Never get hit with your powerful weapons in-hand (or else you'll lose them). Try to get hit only when you have your Starting Gun equipped to avoid losing weapons. Keep your powerful weapons by switching them in and out in short bursts. (Y button, shoot for 1s, Y button again). This way, you run less risk of getting hit while using your favorite weapon. -It's not that important to do this early on, but you'll definitely want to be doing this in Stage 7 where the Laser is king to kill all the enemies that knock you into pits as you climb. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Stages Secrets and Bonuses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -Completing a stage gives you 1 extra Continue that you can bank. -As far as I can tell, each stage has 1x Gold Star Medal and 3x 1-ups, which are almost always hidden. -Stage Completion Bonuses are split into 3 categories: -Completion Bonus: get the highest completion bonus by killing all the enemies in the stage (including each body part of certain bosses). Value = 500,000 for Stage 1, increasing by 100,000 for each stage (1,200,000 for stage 8). -Time Bonus: get by completing the stage as fast as possible (don't need to kill everything in sight). I've managed to the 1M bonus by walking through a stage, but for the 3M bonus you'll need to dash here and there and use high level weapons to take out bosses ASAP. Value = 3,000,000 - Need to be aggressive and rush through stage 1,000,000 - Can achieve by being aggressive but walking 400,000 - Can achieve by not wasting time exploring 300,000 - Can achieve even if side-tracking a bit to explore 50,000 - 30,000 - Spend a lot of time exploring and slowly clear stage Below in the parentheses I will list the times that I did to get the time bonuses. -Special Bonus: beat a stage without continuing (I think) Value = 250,000 -------------------------------------- 3.1 Stage 1 - Desert -------------------------------------- Clear Bonus: 500,000 Kill all sections of Lotus Wyrm boss which is only visible when he arcs in a semi-circle over you in his 3rd attack pattern: 1) Rise and shoot spikes horizontally, 2) shoots lobbing fireballs, 3) Semi-circle over you Time Bonus: <6min : 3,000,000 (5:43) - needs some Dashing (can't just walk) <8min : 1,000,000 (6:27-7:42) 8-11min: 400,000 (8:30 to 10:30) 11+ min: 300,000 ~15+min: 30,000 Special : 250,000 1-up (1): Section with 3 wall-mounted flame guns (at the top (room) - go to the left side of the roof, jump into the sky and shoot up. The 1-up will fall down. 1-up (2): Under concrete in the quicksand area 1-up (3): On Platform on dry land immediately after the quicksand area. Star Medal: Drop in the building immediately to the right of the one with the 3 wall-mounted flame guns. -------------------------------------- 3.2 Stage 2 - Jungle -------------------------------------- Clear Bonus: 600,000 Time Bonus : 3,000,000 (?) 1,000,000 (7:29-7:58) 400,000 (9:39) Special : 250,000 1-up (1): After Fortress, jump on a platform then dangle on the semi-circle vine at the top of the screen then jump of bush platform to the right. 1-up (2): In the jungle area with tree tops that you can jump on, use triple jump powerup to get to the treetops. 1-up (3): ? Star Medal: ? Boss tip: stand on the right-most side of the middle platform (near the mechanical crocodile). That's the best place form him to teleport near you (to your left, right and upper right). When he appears, let him do his dash attack on you (duck underneath it), he's then stunned while recovering from this move, run towards where he dashed and attack him in the back with Heated Plasma lvl3 to take him out quickly. -------------------------------------- 3.3 Stage 3 - Ruins -------------------------------------- Clear Bonus: 700,000 Time Bonus : 3,000,000 (5:16) 1,000,000 (6:04-6:41) 400,000 (8:26) Special : 250,000 1-up (1): beginning when you right all the way right, the platform collapses underneath you. While you're falling shoot the powerup pod to the right while avoiding the green mechanical bugs which try to hit you in mid-flight. 1-up (2): Climb section with spike wheels past the first two spike wheels immediately between the 2nd and 3rd spike wheel that travel then shoot wall on the left (inside chest) 1-up (3): Section after spike walls that shoot out (past the door) there's a section with two spike wheels that go opposite directions and you have to hang from the ceiling to traverse. Climb horizontally to the right in the middle of the two spike wheels you'll trigger the 1-up inside a power-up pod that flies right to left. Let it pass you and shoot it once it reaches the platform where you jumped to hang on the ceiling. (Shooting it too early will cause it to fall into the floor below - which you can drop to if you want to chase after it, it's not a pit.) Star Medal: Immediately after the area where the giant bolder chases after you (like in Indiana Jones) as an area with Spike Walls which shoot out horizontally. After you climb this area, you normally go right and there's a floor which collapses underneath you. Instead of going right, jump higher and climb the walls to see two treasure chests at the top which seem almost unreachable. I used Triple Jump to climb the wall above: jump to hang on the ceiling, go left to the ledge and do a fall-to-triple jump to where the spike wheel is and latch on the wall to climb to the 2 treasuer boxes. I'm sure there's a longer way to get there from the left side of the screen. -------------------------------------- 3.4 Stage 4 - Capital Highway -------------------------------------- Clear Bonus: 800,000 Time Bonus : 3,000,000 (7:59-8:07) 1,000,000 (10:42) Special : 250,000 Use Laser (lvl3) to fight the first form of the boss (giant Gradius-boss-like Wheel). Shooting all green orbs reveal a cannon which shoots energy circles at you. You only need to destroy all green orbs on the boss' wheel to proceed (you can ignore the cannons for faster clear times, although this increases the chances of getting hit). 1-up (1): ? 1-up (2): ? 1-up (3): ? Star Medal: After the first mini-boss (black robot with 4 legs) before the tunnel, there's a power-up pod that will come flying from the left. Just shoot it and pick up the medal while it's dropping. -------------------------------------- 3.5 Stage 5 - Capital Laboratory -------------------------------------- Clear Bonus: (I only got 500,000) Time Bonus : 3,000,000 (8:16) 1,000,000 (10:59) 400,000 (12:36) Special : 250,000 1-up (1): when falling into the area with all the conveyor belts, jump on the first conveyor belt at ground level then move forward (right). When you see a second conveyor belt show up above you, jump on it and run right. A power-up pod containing the 1-up will come in from the right. 1-up (2): Lava Cauldron area, exactly where the Laser is. Go back a bit and jump on the top most platform to trigger the power-up pod to come (careful not to shoot it causing it to fall into the pit) 1-up (3): In the area after the Lava Cauldron, in the Green Tube area (tubs full on monsters on top and bottom of screen. Half-way into the green tube area, it's in one of them on the bottom of the screen. Just shoot all glass tubes and walk inside each of them to trigger the chest containing the 1-up. Star Medal: ? -------------------------------------- 3.6 Stage 6 - Capital Railway -------------------------------------- Clear Bonus: 1,000,000 Time Bonus : 3,000,000 (5:57-6:25-6:40)!!! Special : ? 1-up (1): Into the wall-mounted flame throwers, the pod comes flying at you. 1-up (2): In the first area where there are two trains (one above and one below), when the lower train reaches the end of the line (crashes into "X"s on the floor), first pod that comes to you will be a Laser. After the lower train drops into oblivion, the 1up pod immediately comes flying at you on the upper train. Tough to shoot it in mid-air and grab it. 1-up (3): ? Star Medal: ? -------------------------------------- 3.7 Stage 7 - Capital Tower Building -------------------------------------- Clear Bonus: (I only got 700,000) Time Bonus : 400,000 (14:17) 300,000 (17:44) Special : 250,000 1-up (1): Fountain area where the little mechanical red robots spout out of. Jump on the small platform after the 2nd fountain to trigger a power-up pod containing the 1-up. 1-up (2): ? 1-up (3): ? Star Medal: ? Boss tip: Shoot the core of the boss to kill him quicker - ignore his legs, because shooting both legs will only make him do lengthy spin attacks which waste time where you can't do much damage on him. -------------------------------------- 3.8 Stage 8 - Battleship -------------------------------------- Clear Bonus: (I only got 800,000) Time Bonus : 50,000 (22:38) Special : ? 1-up (1): ? 1-up (2): ? 1-up (3): ? Star Medal: ? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Weapons Tips -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you hold down Fire button without Automatic Fire, you'll shoot slower than if you rapidly tap the Fire button (except for the Super Machine Gun and Ripple, which always seems to shoot at their fastest fire rate). -------------------------------------- 4.1 Starting Gun -------------------------------------- The gun that you start with. Shoots small bullets and does weak damage. Ok for the beginning of the game, but for the later stages, you'll want to upgrade it with Automatic Fire and Rapid Fire, which makes it do decent damage. Automatic Fire: Bullets are closely grouped together (much more damage) Rapid Fire : Bullets shoot faster (more damage) -------------------------------------- 4.2 (Super) Machine Gun -------------------------------------- Much better than your Starting Gun and very common drop in stages. Fires incredibly fast and does good damage (especially lvl3). Level 1: Fire 1 stream of bullets Level 2: Fire 2 stream of bullets Level 3: Fire 3 stream of bullets (almost as tall as you are!) Automatic Fire: Doesn't seem to do anything Rapid Fire : Doesn't seem to do anything -------------------------------------- 4.3 Spread -------------------------------------- Shoots slow, but fires in a spread pattern, which is great for clearing out waves of weak enemies, but weak against bosses (even if you have lvl3 and hit it with all 7 shots). Level 1: Fires 3 bullets (1 diagonal up, 1 horizontal, 1 diagonal down) Level 2: Fires 5 bullets Level 3: Fires 7 bullets Automatic Fire: Shots are closely grouped together Rapid Fire : Shoots faster -------------------------------------- 4.4 (Heated) Plasma -------------------------------------- Great defensive and offensive weapon. The only weapon in the game which can destroy enemy bullets by shooting them (can't destroy some boss's shots), saving you the hassle of dodging. Short range shots. Very weak at the start of the game, but lvl3 + Automatic Fire makes this weapon do incredible amounts of damage. Note: This is the only weapon in the game (other than Sayuri's sword) that can be charged. Hold down the Fire button for 1s to charge it, then release the Fire button to fire a Charged Shot which travels the entire length of the screen while "bowling" over all enemies in its path. Most charged shots can also destroy poison gas from plants and folliage in Stage 2. Level 1: Short range small bullets Level 2: Short range medium-sized bullets Level 3: Short range large-size bullets (about as tall as you are) Automatic Fire: Allows you to continuously fire normal Heated Plasma shots *while* you are charging the Charged Shot! This allows for incredible amounts of damage. Rapid Fire : Shoots faster -------------------------------------- 4.5 Crash -------------------------------------- A situational weapon. Slowly fires lobbing grenades which do large amount of damage. You can use the arcing nature of this weapon to hit enemies below you, but the lack of range or rate of fire make this weapon more of a backup. Level 1: Small grenades Level 2: Medium grenades Level 3: Large grenades Automatic Fire: Shoots faster Rapid Fire : Shoots faster -------------------------------------- 4.6 Ripple -------------------------------------- Another situational weapon. Shots will reflect enemy bullets back at them (useful against enemy snipers), but the shots themselves are slow-moving and don't do much damage. The range of this weapon is also rather short. Level 1: Short range Level 2: Medium range Level 3: Medium range, but twice as wide (almost 3 times your height!) Automatic Fire: Doesn't seem to do anything Rapid Fire : Doesn't seem to do anything -------------------------------------- 4.7 Laser -------------------------------------- Great weapon for killing weaker enemies, but doesn't do great damage. The laser has limited tracking abilities and with bend 45 degrees towards the nearest enemy. Try to overshoot when aiming for the locking ability to work better (i.e., shoot further than where the enemy is and let the laser curve in). Very weak at the beginning of the game, but lvl3 Laser is very useful for Stage 7 and 8 (you can purchase a power-up for Bahamut for him to start every stage with a Laser). Level 1: Weak damage with some spacing Level 2: Weak damage with a continuous beam Level 3: Moderate damage with a continuous beam Automatic Fire: ? Rapid Fire : ? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Shop Purchases Tips -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -You don't have to work too hard to buy the earliest power-ups (500,000 to 1,500,000), but for the highest level power-ups, the best way to score points is to get the best Time Bonus. 300,000-400,000 should be attainable without too much work if you are familiar with the stage. To get the 1,000,000 you should have lvl3 powerups and be aggressive, but you don't need to be reckless (i.e., you don't need to dash the entire stage.) In fact, I managed to get some 1,000,000 Time Bonuses without any speed enhancements using lvl3 powerups and just walking (without stopping much) the entire stage. Generally, you'll want to kill the boss in his first action phase (i.e., don't let him hide/move around). -For clearing stages fast, I suggest buying the weapon power-ups. -To get further in the game, I suggest buying more HP or Lives. -For Stage 7 and 8, I strongly suggest buying all the mobility power-ups (especially Triple Jump and Double Air Dash). -------------------------------------- 5.1 Purchase Order suggestions -------------------------------------- -I strongly suggest you to immediately buy the Machine Gun lvl2 (1,500,000) and lvl3 (4,000,000). Super Machine gun power-ups are the most common and the fire rate and damage bonus that they give is very significant. It's a general purpose weapon that completely overshadows your Starting Gun. This will help you beat stages faster and collect better Stage Completion Bonuses. -Spreader lvl2 (1,500,000) is very useful, but lvl3 (6,000,000) isn't so useful for the cost early in the game. -Aim for Automatic Fire (12,000,000) and Rapid Fire (5,000,000) to boost all of your guns' damage. It also gives your Heated Plasma the ability to charge *while* constantly shooting! -Heated Plasma lvl2 (2,000,000) is very useful, and lvl3 (8,000,000) is awesome! -Laser lvl2/3 (6,000,000 & 12,000,000) is only good if you have Bahamut's ability to start a stage with Laser (12,000,000). If you have them all then Laser is insanely useful for clearing out stages super quickly (to get the 3,000,000 Time Bonus). -Crash and Ripple are situational weapons (only useful sometimes) so I wouldn't bother wasting any money to upgrade them. -Skill-Chips are mostly useless I find. I use Deflect Bullets all the time (especially when you're standing on small platforms and can't dodge), but you can safetly ignore all the other skills. The Ambush skill helps you destroy the energy mirrors in Stage 7 if you don't have the Crash gun or Laser gun. -------------------------------------- 5.2 Bahamut Specific Power-ups -------------------------------------- -Can buy Tough Guy (don't lose weapon if hit unless knocked down). -Can buy Ninja Jump (invincible while rising in jumps). -Can start stages with Ripple (8,000,000) and Laser (12,000,000). -------------------------------------- 5.3 Krystal Specific Power-ups -------------------------------------- -Only starts with 2HP (max is still 6HP like the others). -Mobility powers are cheaper (e.g., Speed Boost is 3,000,000 and Speed Run is 5,000,000). -Has 2 running mobility powers (not sure what they are yet). -Can start stages with Machine Gun (6,000,000) and Spread (6,000,000). -------------------------------------- 5.4 Harley Daniels Specific Power-ups -------------------------------------- -Weapons cost less to upgrade (e.g., Machine Gun lvl3 is only 2,000,000 and Heated Plasma lvl2 is only 1,500,000). -Automatic Fire costs less (only 8,000,000). -Can buy Tough Guy (don't lose weapon if hit unless knocked down). -Starts with 4 HP, can go up to 8 HP. -Extra Lives costs more (1,000,000 for 3 lives). -Only 2 mobility upgrades (Speed Run is 9,000,000) - can't Triple Jump or Double Air Dash. -Can start stages with Heated Plasma (6,000,000) and Crash (6,000,000). -------------------------------------- 5.5 Sayuri Specific Power-ups -------------------------------------- -Only has a sword (weapon power-ups do nothing). Can charge the sword to shoot a beam across the screen. -Automatic Fire costs more (only 18,000,000). -Extra Lives costs more (1,000,000 for 3 lives). -Most mobility powers of any character (7). -Can buy Ninja Jump (invincible while rising in jumps).